Considering that the first part of its name is “Boo”, Boolify should probably have been yesterday’s Halloween post. It is still a timely site, however. Boolify is a simple tool for teaching students how to do web searches using basic Boolean Search Operators. There is the tool, itself, on the home page, as well as a few other resources under the “Lessons” link. The search results come from Bing, so this is not a “safe search” tool. However, it would be good to use for demonstration purposes with younger students. Older students may enjoy the simplicity of the tool, as well. This might be a good tool to use with Kentucky Virtual Library’s “How to do Research” site.

Mind mapping is a great skill for all ages, and this site will show you pretty much all of the ways in which it can be useful. There is even a poster that you can download of the 100 reasons. And, if you are looking for some other free printables, head on over to I.Q. Matrix, where you can download some very creative and elaborate mind maps, such as the “How-to-Mind-Map” mind map!

I learned about Manga High a few weeks ago, but wanted to explore it more before sharing it. Now that I’ve had a chance to delve into it a little, I can’t wait for everyone else to try it!

Manga High is a free math resource for K-12. Teachers can register entire classes, and no student e-mails are necessary to create their accounts. Once the teacher manually adds each student, or uploads the class using a spreadsheet, the teacher can then select levels for each student to “play”. Students can earn achievements by playing the math games. The teacher has access to class reports, and individualized ones that would be useful for conferencing.

I’m going to start giving my gifted students in 5th grade access to it next week to pilot it. Please let me know if you use it, and what your own feelings are about this seemingly indispensable tool!

Like this:

As we begin to incorporate more mobile devices into our classrooms to engage our students, the question becomes, “What apps will be appropriate for the needs of my students?” Sorting through the apps available on sites such as iTunes in the Education category can be very time-consuming. In the past few weeks, I have come across some websites that try to make the job of finding meaningful apps for children easier for teachers and families.

Pros:can choose App Store, Android, or both,can filter by free, paid, highest rated, most popular, or APProved,can browse by category or age group,seems to have a large catalogue,gives a lot of information – both objective and subjective – about each app

Cons:not specifically designed for educators, although it does have an Education category,does not appear to have any teachers as reviewers (the site is designed for families rather than educators)

Pros: can choose category,can choose specific grade level,trying to work with developers to increase the quantity and quality of educational apps

Cons:seems to be mostly App Store offerings (I didn’t see any Android apps),does not allow to filter for platform or sort by ratings, price, or popularity (though these should be coming soon),still limited on number of reviews (just starting out)

Pros:lots of meaty suggestions for using apps in the classroom with examples and links,written by an Instructional Technology Specialist in N.E.I.S.D. (shout out!) in San Antonio who was a former classroom teacher,very creative ideas for integration, most ideas have been teacher-tested

Cons:due to the high quality of each post, there is a lower volume of reviews than you will find on the other sites,limited to App store

This is a great resource for differentiating. Many teachers use graphic organizers, but there are a few here that I’ve never seen – such as the jigsaw puzzle. Changing things up always grabs the students’ attention. To apply this to different abilities in your classroom you could try the following levels, in order from least ability to greatest ability:

organizer that is pre-filled

organizer that is attached to a worksheet with the different words or phrases for the students to cut out and apply

blank organizer with no word bank

select your own organizer and fill out

I have tried the last one in my classroom, and the students love being given the option to choose. It is interesting to see how they can apply the same information in several different types of diagrams.

A couple of years ago, a fellow Gifted and Talented teacher, Michelle A., introduced me to these brief biographies by showing me the book Not Quite What I Was Planning. I was immediately intrigued, and went out to buy my own copy. There is something deeply moving about the power of six words to tell an entire life story, and I looked for ways to incorporate it into my classroom. Apparently, Michelle and I weren’t the only ones who saw the potential of this writing technique. It has taken classrooms by storm. On this site, a teacher explains how she used the idea with her second graders, and gives instructions for the classroom activities. (Be sure to click on “Expand to Read More”.) And at Smith Mag, there are lots of examples and ideas – even 6-word questions. And Daniel Pink has a variation on this idea, as well, with “What’s Your Sentence?”. I would not recommend that you set younger students loose on any of these resources, as there are some mature topics discussed, but you can gather plenty of appropriate ideas to jumpstart their creativity.

Apparently, I really like this site. I keep coming across it in my Bookmarks and Favorites on several different computers, as well as my online bookmarking site. One reason I like this site is because my students like it. They enjoy the different comic templates and the choices of characters and scenes. Another reason that this site is appealing is because it offers alternatives for those who may not have access to many computers. If you don’t want to have your students create the comics online, there are many printables offered by the site, which could also be used for planning out the cartoons. In addition, there are Teacher Resources (I like that the page is titled “How to Play) with 20 suggestions for using comics in the classroom, and there is a link to Writer Prompts.